Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/64

48 I said that perhaps a third species might be included among the Common Birds of Bombay. I meant the beautiful speckled bird (Jerdon's Pied Kingfisher, Ceryle rudis), which is so common on the Poona river and on all rivers and large tanks and backwaters. I have seen a pair of them fishing on some flooded ground near Dadar station. This is the cleverest fisher of the whole tribe. It will not work from a perch, but hovers like a Kestril, ten or fifteen feet above the water, with its long bill pointed downwards, and drops perpendicularly on its prey. Jerdon says that he never saw one plunge into the water and come out without a fish. They always hunt in pairs, cheering each other with shrill cries, and stopping now and then to rest on a wall and get their breath. Like the rest, they lay their eggs in holes from February to April.